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May 24, 2024This is not groovy indie finery; there’s a rock-as-high-art vision at work here.
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May 24, 2024The album is a darkly sweet exploration of heavy themes like cancer, death, and motherhood, delivered with a newfound confidence and maturity. On News of the Universe, La Luz has crafted an album that sounds timeless yet fresh, pushing their boundaries while maintaining the hypnotic beauty that defines their music.
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Jul 31, 2024La Luz takes a big day-glo colored leap in News of the Universe, expanding a spooky, surf-rocking, girl-group sound into psychedelic overload. This is a full-on, trippy symphony, evoking baroque late Beatles, Os Mutantes and Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd.
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MojoMay 24, 2024With its captivating melodies and sci-fi charm, News Of The Universe is as poignant as it is hopeful. [Jul 2024, p.88]
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May 24, 2024The album’s warm airiness is achieved through their signature flourish of glowing, densely layered harmonies—a sound so golden that it seems to bathe you in light. It is also a sound like hope, evidence that Cleveland has managed to locate beauty in darkness.
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The WireOct 22, 2024If it undeniably looks into a past long before any of the members were born, the actual results provide more welcome context, using the music of the 1960s to create a sound which, in toto, didn’t actually exist during that decade. [Nov 2024, p.62]
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UncutMay 24, 2024“Poppies” is an aching, Beatle-esque waking dream, half-heard car radio for company, prime Aimee Mann a comparison. Cleveland’s distorted electric guitar, cool, Stereolab-like synth glides and dub Ethio-jazz further colour the scene. [Jul 2024, p.35]
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May 24, 2024Cleveland's vocals are unfortunately low in the mix and it's often difficult to make out the lyrics, but approached simply as another instrument in the ensemble, her soft, breathy tone is lovely and enigmatic, and the layers of echoey guitars and '60s-style keyboard sounds blend wonderfully with her vocals.
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May 24, 2024There’s generally less immediacy on this record than seen on previous albums, and this will no doubt turn off a few fair-weather fans. The flip side is a band pushing its boundaries, grabbing some serious Warp artist vibes, and evolving into something more cinematic and mature.